U.K. politicians reject May’s deal for third time

Brexit becomes Whatnexit as EU plans crisis talks

• Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was beaten down for an amazing, unprecedented, pitiful third time by the British parliament on Friday, with all bets off now on when or how the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. The EU had given Britain until the end of this week to approve the withdrawal agreement. Now Britain has until April 12 to propose a new way forward, or crash out of the bloc without a deal, or beg for a long extension. May called the results of the day’s votes “grave.” The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for a general election. Within minutes of the vote, EU leaders scrambled to convene “crisis” talks on April 10 in Brussels. The Europeans grow more anxious by the day that Britain’s Conservative Party is going to wreck economic havoc on both sides of the English Channel. Speaking after the vote, May observed the obvious: “Once again, we have been unable to support leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion.” May said, “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House. This House has rejected no deal, it has rejected no Brexit, on Wednesday it rejected all the variations of the deal on the table and today it has rejected approving the withdrawal agreement alone.” The prime minister’s stripped-down version of her twice-defeated Brexit deal lost by a thumping 58 votes — 344 to 286 — in yet another “last ditch” and “cliff edge” attempt to exit from the European Union.

The third losing vote for May came on the day Britain was due to “take back control” and depart the continental trading bloc. Instead of Brexiteers gulping pints and waving Union Jack flags to celebrate what they were, once upon a time, calling “British Independence Day,” the parliamentarians were still debating how to get out of Europe. A few thousand pro-Brexit demonstrators descended on London’s Parliament Square to protest the delay. Some took part in a 270-mile “Leave Means Leave” march that started a week ago in the north of England. Global Affairs Canada has issued a travel advisory for Canadians in Britain, warning them of possible violence in the wake of Friday’s vote. In the advisory, officials warn of “acts of violence” and confrontations between demonstrators and security forces around the parliament buildings and near Westminster Abbey in London. Canadians were urged to avoid areas where demonstrations take place and nearby subway stations. In the Commons before the vote Friday morning, the prime minister had a warning of her own. She said, “There are those who will say, ‘the House has rejected every option so far, you’ll probably lose, so why bother?’ I bother because this is the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit.” May offered to resign if her own Conservative Party would help push the deal over the line. And that self-sacrifice did convince some members to back it — but not enough. In a series of tweets on Friday morning, Boris Johnson, Britain’s former foreign secretary and a favourite to replace May, explained his screeching U-turn. Recall: Johnson once described May’s deal as something akin to donning a “suicide vest,” but on Friday said that not voting for it posed the “risk of being forced to accept an even worse version of Brexit or losing Brexit altogether.” Following Johnson into the “aye” lobby was Jacob Rees-Mogg, an influential Brexiteer, who after long complaining about May’s “dreadful” withdrawal agreement declared that “half a loaf is better than no bread.” But May needed more Conservative Party “switchers” than she got. She needed Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which voted against the government. She also needed a handful of Labour MPs. On Friday, Corbyn told parliament the deal was “bad for our democracy, bad for our economy and bad for this country” and he urged lawmakers “not to be cajoled for this third-time-lucky strategy and vote it down today.” The House of Commons voted only on part of the Brexit treaty: the 585-page withdrawal agreement. That’s the part that spells out, in a legally binding way, how much Britain will pay to leave the European Union ($50 billion), how the twoyear transition will preserve the status quo for trade and travel (no change), and how Britain and the European Union will treat each other’s citizens in the interim (nobody gets kicked out of anybody’s country).